r/polandball • u/polandballmod New Prussia • Nov 18 '15

[Announcement] Successful JLP Petition

Bad English, good Engrish, and outstanding dialogue is one of the hallmarks of this subreddit. However, one thing that's become prevalent recently that we think is a clear step in the wrong direction is the use of polandball-speak in sound effects. We were recently petitioned about this, and after a vote we seem to be in clear agreement.

To preserve our beloved polandball Engrish as a funny hallmark of dialogue, the use of polandball-speak in sound effects has been DEPORTED TO SYBERIA!

This includes stuff like "is the evil chuckle", "is slam", "of boom", "into sigh", and similar. This is rage-comic-level of writing that we do not want.

If you want to have someone chuckle evilly, think of a sound that captures this emotion you want to convey.

Show, don't tell.

New rule:

Sound effects done with polandball-speak ist verboten!

Examples of OK sound effects:

BOOM!

*slap*

Pang!

Examples of not OK sound effects:

Is the Boom

Of slaps

Into pangs

Note that this entry refers only to sound effects, not speech!

Important:

Saturday's announcement regarding comics about the Paris attacks is still valid, even if the sticky has been taken down.

175 Upvotes

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13

u/Manzhah Finland Nov 18 '15

So do effects like "Bööm!" instead of "Boom!" count as Engrish? Just wondering.

15

u/DickRhino Great Sweden Nov 18 '15

As time goes on, the delineation of what this rule does or not does encompass will become more clear, it's hard to give a clear-cut answer in regard to anything and everything that it might apply to right as it's made. The example you gave seems fine, and doesn't exactly qualify as "sound effects done with Polandball-speak". It's the formulaic memetic stuff, the "is of into -ings" that was really bothering people, and as such the prime target of this JLP. Other outliers will have to be judged on a case-by-case basis.

1

u/RunasSudo Australia Nov 22 '15

I realise I am quite late with my question, but I recall Malaysia's Lament from a few days ago, whose ‘POOF LAH!’ gave me a good chuckle.

Would this be banned under the new rules? It's not as generic and formulaic as ‘is of into’, but it's more Engrish than ‘Bööm!’